Screamer (Soulless Kings MC: Marble Falls, TX #5)

Prologue

SCREAMER

I found my people that night, along with my purpose.

Eighteen years old…

“Where will you go?”

I stare at the manila envelope in my hand, the lawyer’s question going in one ear and out the other. The last few weeks have been a nightmare that I’d give anything to wake up from, but that’s not an option because I’m wide fucking awake.

“Don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “As far away from here as I can get.”

He nods as if he understands, but he can’t possibly fathom what I’m going through.

He sits here in his cushy office, surrounded by pictures of his wife and kids, and content in the knowledge that he has people to go home to.

As for me, I’ve got no one. Not anymore.

Not after the night my entire life changed.

“Well, when you do settle down somewhere, call with your address so I can get you the rest of the estate.”

“Estate?” I scoff. “My family hardly had enough for rent, let alone an estate .”

“That’s true,” he says. “But Ally had a life insurance policy, as well as her marital home, several cars, and bank acc?—”

“I don’t give a shit about any of that,” I snarl.

“Be that as it may, with the death of Ally and your parents, and the incarceration of Ally’s husband, it all comes to you.”

A vice squeezes my heart, and my eyes burn with tears I refuse to shed. Ally, my big sister, was murdered by her husband, and when he was done with her, he took out our parents, too. The only reason I’m still breathing is because I ran to the store to get condoms for my date the next day.

I’m the only living member of my family because my anger and dick were making decisions for me.

“Fine,” I mutter, rising from the chair. “Are we done here?”

I have to get out of this stuffy office. I need a ride and fresh air before I lose my shit and fall so far down into the void that I can never recover.

“We are. And again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

Storming out of the office, I make my way to the ground floor of the building. I take the steps to try and burn off some of this rage, but it doesn’t help. If anything, the second I step outside, all I want to do is lie down and die.

I climb on my Harley and race as fast as I can away from this town, from the pain and memories. I don’t have a destination in mind and figure I’ll know it when I get there.

Two months later, I roll into a little town called Marble Falls in Texas. I’ve been aimlessly traveling the country, using some of the money I got from my sister’s estate, but I’m tired. So. Fucking. Tired.

The first thing I see when I turn onto Main Street is a motorcycle parked in front of a building that has a sign that says, ‘Soulless Ink’. I’ve gotten three tattoos since I left my entire life behind, and maybe this is a sign that I need another.

“Yo, I’ll be right with ya,” a man calls from somewhere in the back when I enter.

“No rush.”

“Take a look at the binders while you wait,” he calls. “Get an idea of what we can do here.”

It’s another forty-five minutes before a woman comes out of what I assume is the artist’s tattooing space, and she’s followed by a large man wearing a leather cut.

“You’re still here,” he says.

“I am.”

“Python, I can’t thank you enough,” the woman gushes as he gets her checked out. “I knew you’d get it right.”

“I’m just glad you trusted me with it,” he tells her.

Once she’s gone, Python turns his attention to me. His expression is somber, which is odd considering how fucking big and mean he looks.

“It’s always the memorial tats that get me,” he says. “Most people want stupid shit, but those memorials…”

It’s at this moment that I know exactly what my next tattoo is going to be. “Up for another one?” I ask him.

“A tat? Always.”

“A memorial one?”

“Aw, hell,” he grumps. “Yeah, kid. I got you.”

An hour and a half later, I inspect the new ink in the mirror. The black lines form three heartbeats, and a knife, tipped in blood, slashes through them. In bold script font, my sister’s name is bright pink because that was her favorite color.

“Who’s Ally?” Python asks as we walk out to the reception area. Neither of us had talked while he worked, and I’m sure he’s dying to know the story.

“My sister.”

“And the three heartbeats?”

Pointing my finger at each one, I reply, “Ally, my mom, and my dad.”

“Damn, man.”

“Yeah.”

“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

My lungs seize, and it takes several long minutes to get any words out. “Ally’s husband killed them all.”

Python’s eyes widen. “Fuck.”

“Yeah.” After paying, I step back from the counter. “Well, thanks. I need to get back on the road.”

“Where ya headed?” he asks.

I shrug. “Wherever my bike takes me.”

“You ride?”

“Yeah. My dad had an old Harley from when he was younger, and we rebuilt it together so I could have it on my sixteenth birthday.” My heart skips a beat at the memory.

“Listen, if you really don’t have a destination in mind, why don’t you stick around for a while? I’m gonna be closing up soon, and there’s an open party at the clubhouse tonight. Have a little fun before you take off.”

“Clubhouse?”

Python turns around so I can see the back of his cut. “Soulless Kings MC. I gotta say, I think you may have stumbled into a place where your people are.”

“My people?”

“Bikers, kid.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but Python was right. I found my people that night, along with my purpose.